Republican Convention bloggers: Qwest has a big surprise for you

posted at 4:58 pm on July 31, 2008 by Ed Morrissey

Yesterday, I received my confirmation for my credentials to the Republican National Convention, and at first I was pretty excited. After all, I was one of the handful who blogged from the convention in 2004 at Madison Square Garden, and as I wrote yesterday, this time they designed us right into the venue. We have great seats, great view, and equal status with the mainstream media. How equal? Well … bear with me and read to the end, because it does get somewhat better as this goes along.

The welcome letter instructed me to contact Qwest in order to arrange any needed voice or Internet services, and they provided a helpful link to an on-line ordering process — as well as the rates for the service. It took me nearly an hour to pick my jaw up off of the floor after reading it:

This service is for public Internet access only. This service does not provide any security capabilities or protections. The customer should ensure that any computers connected are properly protected and secured.

Qwest will provide the customer with a RJ45 plug for each 10 Mbps and 100 Mbps service and a fiber optic SC/PC connector for each 1 Gbps service. The service does not provide any hardware or cabling beyond the plug. The RJ45 cabling provided will be approximately 6ft in length.

10 Mbps (Dedicated) – $850.00

100 Mbps (Dedicated) – $7,650.00

1 Gbps (Dedicated) – $53,550.00

That’s for four days of Internet service. Four days. My son doesn’t pay that much a month in rent.

Now that was the bad news, obviously, but there is some good news. I contacted the convention’s press office this morning and asked them about this, and they promised to send me a statement about this issue. It explains that bloggers do have other options:

Internet access is available to all media outlets, including bloggers, in several ways. Some will choose to purchase hard-wired access, others will choose to use their own wireless Internet card, and all will have hard-wired access at no cost in our state-of-the-art press filing center.

Within the Xcel Energy Center, drastic steps are being taken to provide the utmost accessibility for all members of the media. Cellular bandwidth has been increased by unprecedented proportions compared to what was offered in past conventions and cellular providers are increasing their coverage capabilities to accommodate expected rise in usage.

In talking with the convention people, they emphasized the amount of bandwidth that wireless carriers would be adding to the Xcel Center. They expect no slowdowns for Blackberries and wireless Internet cards despite the thousands of people who will attend. Further, bloggers who cannot adequately access the Internet from their reserved seats can use the Media Filing Center at no charge, where the RNCC will provide free ad-hoc access for the media, which includes bloggers as equals.

In fact, this is actually a side effect of the equality in which the Republicans have treated bloggers as media representatives. What we have been offered is the exact same price structure and services offered to the traditional media outlets. Networks and newspapers pay these rates as a cost of doing business and probably didn’t blink at the menu. Qwest has a captive market, and they’re taking full advantage of it.

Unfortunately, bloggers don’t have the same kind of deep pockets that other media outlets do. Most of them will spend at least a thousand dollars on flights, hotels, and meals, and perhaps rental cars. When they see an $850 price tag for dedicated hard-line access, it’s possible that many or most of them will simply skip the event.

Personally, I think the RNCC should have footed the bill for Internet connectivity to Blogger’s Row, which they did in 2004, but there were a lot fewer of us in New York City. We have argued for equality, though, and this is one of the less pleasant aspects of it. At least other options exist — so if you have already looked at the price and are thinking about canceling, don’t let it stop you. Pick up an air card through your cell service and that should keep you blogging without breaking the bank.

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Pick up an air card through your cell service and that should keep you blogging without breaking the bank.

It’s a shame that the rates are so high, but the availability of AirCards and cheap data plans, along with the increased bandwidth the wireless companies are adding, should keep most bloggers connected.

In some venues, you would have to “hire” an union electrician to hook up your computer…add another $500, need an extension cord, add $75, and connect, another $75. BTW, can’t use your own cords, “not facility approved”…it goes on and on.
$850 and they hand you the cords, that’s a bargain.

You can’t contact other bloggers and a bunch of you go in on the 10 Mbps line? I mean if there’s 5 of you, that’s only $170. Grab a wifi router and set up a secure wireless network and you’re good to go. I mean splitting 10 megs amongst 5 people isn’t great, but it’s not terrible.

It is great the Bloggers are being treated as equals, but the broadband prices are nothing but absurd. $212.50 a day for a measly 10mbps connection is disgusting. I’d hate to see how much you guys are going to be paying per night in the hotels. If you feel up to driving an hour or so each way, Colorado Springs has some decent places near the Academy.

Slightly off topic, am I the only one having trouble logging into HA to post? After the software upgrade, I’m constantly having to reset my password.

If the Republicans pay this amount they are indeed RUBES of the first order! Wireless would be my first choice or buying one connection and then a router with multiple connections the next! Technology is not that hard if managed by those that know it and from my experience the last place to go for connection expertise is the phone company!!!

I think it’s confusing. If they are going to let you connect for free to their hardline, then why not let you connect to their wireless network – no difference. Bring your own wireless router, connect it to the hardline, and give your friends on bloggers row the WEP key…

I don’t have deep pockets (although 850 doesn’t make me sweat) and I didn’t blink at the prices. This is a premium event where such resources are critical to success – that translates to a high price tag.

In some venues, you would have to “hire” an union electrician to hook up your computer…add another $500, need an extension cord, add $75, and connect, another $75. BTW, can’t use your own cords, “not facility approved”…it goes on and on.
$850 and they hand you the cords, that’s a bargain.

right2bright on July 31, 2008 at 5:08 PM

A friend of mine does IT tradeshows on a regular basis. Many of those are held in these union controlled facilities. He sets up complex systems and won’t let the union goons touch it. He asks them if they’re Juniper certified, always a no. He is able to get out of the fee charged by the union because they are not certified to touch his equipment.

Cute, but missing the mark. A great deal of the country only has one internet provider available in their area. Now, this doesn’t mean they are all the same provider, but to each consumer, they still only have one choice to to the lack of coverage. They have no choice but to go to the one provider who they can get service from. Internet access has reached the utility status that the phone companies did.

To embrace the role of government in keeping industries in check is foolhardy, I agree. However, when services become utilities, as the telephone did, without at least some form of corralling, these industries begin to, and are, running amok.

Technically though, it makes sense to structure your pricing to lean towards the 10 meg solution. A few big dogs will blow 50K on the mondo connection to prove they have big dicks, quite a few more will find the thick end of 10K quite reasonable, with the grunting masses (sorry Ed ;) left to fumble around the sofa cushions to scrape up a grand.

That’s funny when the presumptive nominee doesn’t even know how to get on the internet or use e-mail.

BigD on July 31, 2008 at 5:08 PM

Exactly the point! And you have Republican “big shots” running the show who can barely run a lap top who have no idea what it means to be a real American RUBE out here everyday trying to earn a living! Someone who must actually “define requirements, works with lean six sigma “process nazi’s, initiate ADM methodologies because someone went to a “class” and then do testing without any significant testing test scripts or results! But these idiots are going to change the world by instilling in all Americans new ideologies and idioms while accessing lean methodologies that lead to thinking outside the box while we leverage synergies to meld our PERT and GANTT charts together.

I suspect the prices are geared towards big MSM outlets and such- the quoted prices are for dedicated connections as opposed to shared LAN/wireless access. I wouldn’t worry, Ed- I’m sure they’ll have WiFi or other free access options.

Or if you have a phone like mine, the Sprint Mogul, don’t pay the extra 10 dollars a month, and just use a program like WMwifirouter to turn your phones data connection into wireless 802.11g access for any and all computers you have.

They can choose not to have internet. They can choose to start their own ISP. They have no right to any service, despite your claims of ‘utility status’.

Don’t go all socialist on me dude

LimeyGeek on July 31, 2008 at 5:32 PM

I never claimed anyone had a right to anything, so please don’t put words in my mouth.

There is no more choice to not have internet in today’s world, any more than there was choice not to have a telephone 30 years ago. That argument is fallacious.

If you were in the tech industry, as I am, you would know that the process of starting up your own ISP is, like mentioned before, about as easy as starting up your own telephone provider 30 years ago. Without an amount of capital that would make Warren Buffett whistle, it’s nearly impossible.

I’m arguing for the government to help open the market to more competition, and you’re arguing in favor of a single entity continuing to provide a critical service to the American people…and I’m “going all socialist”?

Yes. It is far beyond the meager technical comprehension of the female brain. Leave it to the menfolk while you tend to the kittens.

*ducks*

;)

LimeyGeek on July 31, 2008 at 5:38 PM

Limey I could go geek-o-nese and start talking about oil, geology and get technical which would curl the toes of TexasJew. But what fun it that other then TJ’s and mine. You my nerdy friend, are having way to much fun…

A few big dogs will blow 50K on the mondo connection to prove they have big dicks, quite a few more will find the thick end of 10K quite reasonable, with the grunting masses (sorry Ed ;) left to fumble around the sofa cushions to scrape up a grand.

From Republican Convention bloggers: Qwest has a big surprise for you, 2008/07/31 at 5:27 PM

I hear you loud & clear, 850 is very steep.. On the other hand 10mb/s dedicated is a lot of bandwidth, way more than any blogger needs by leaps & bounds, it would have been a lot smarter to tier it down, even someone live streaming in beautiful quality for the full 4 days could easy get away wtih 1 or 2 MBs and have a lot of headroom. If they charged 200 dineros for 4 days at 1 or 2 megs it would be reasonablish..

Were you planning on setting up live video from the convention ed?

In any case people are sort of comparing their home connections which is a mistake, a dedicated link like that would be 10MB/s both ways up / down. That’s a lot of juice.

Limey I could go geek-o-nese and start talking about oil, geology and get technical which would curl the toes of TexasJew. But what fun it that other then TJ’s and mine. You my nerdy friend, are having way to much fun…

Oh yeah.. Purr purr purr… knead knead knead.

upinak on July 31, 2008 at 5:43 PM

A woman who likes geology? Where were you when I was single? I met one once, she worked for Shell, I think. She was surprised to see a sailor in dress blues who was interested in plate tectonics. :-)

huh? Interested, I work in Oil and blah blah blah… I play with core samples, look at resisitity logs, electric PDS, PDF and Tiff images of everthing you can imagine and work with fossils as well as play with geothermal data. I could go on and on…

The Theory of Plate techtonics is something I got into a fight with someone on another thread. I won’t bring it up here.

huh? Interested, I work in Oil and blah blah blah… I play with core samples, look at resisitity logs, electric PDS, PDF and Tiff images of everthing you can imagine and work with fossils as well as play with geothermal data. I could go on and on…

The Theory of Plate techtonics is something I got into a fight with someone on another thread. I won’t bring it up here.

If life was fair, I would have my MS in Geology by now, and working for USGS. Calculus got in the way and dashed my dreams of looking at seismograph tracings. I work in IT and can follow most of what Limey says. I’m a PM now and a bit out of the loop with the most current stuff. I’m not familiar with ClearWire.

I’ve got a few fossils I’ve picked up here and there. I found a great place in Western MA where I found a bunch of dinosaur footprints.

Exactly the point! And you have Republican “big shots” running the show who can barely run a lap top who have no idea what it means to be a real American RUBE out here everyday trying to earn a living! Someone who must actually “define requirements, works with lean six sigma “process nazi’s, initiate ADM methodologies because someone went to a “class” and then do testing without any significant testing test scripts or results! But these idiots are going to change the world by instilling in all Americans new ideologies and idioms while accessing lean methodologies that lead to thinking outside the box while we leverage synergies to meld our PERT and GANTT charts together.

USGS is dieing. You have the partial degree and if you are still interested, cartography is the “New” thing to be in concerning Geology and anything Oil. We LOVE maps! Especially stratigraphic, and anything that shows wells, if they are or are not in service and EVERYTHIGN you can put on a map including geographics and minerolgical.

I think my favorites is when the Cartographers put together multi-regional Strats for areas via the lith logs. I need to stop drooling now.

USGS is dieing. You have the partial degree and if you are still interested, cartography is the “New” thing to be in concerning Geology and anything Oil. We LOVE maps! Especially stratigraphic, and anything that shows wells, if they are or are not in service and EVERYTHIGN you can put on a map including geographics and minerolgical.

I think my favorites is when the Cartographers put together multi-regional Strats for areas via the lith logs. I need to stop drooling now.

upinak on July 31, 2008 at 6:13 PM

My undergrad is in accounting, I like geology as a hobby now. I watch every documentary I can on geology, especially seismology and volcanology. The math requirement for accounting was far easier than geology.

For $850 (never mind $7,650), I would expect to be personally serviced, for four days, by a nubile young Qwest network engineer, and get 100 Mb connectivity. That’s absolutely shameful.

Centerfire on July 31, 2008 at 6:06 PM

I work for Qwest- not a lot of “nubile young” types around. More likely, they’ve been with the company for 20-30 years.

Those prices are high, but keep in mind they’re spending a ton of money to provide the necessary infrastructure specifically for the convention- they gotta make up the expense somehow.

What anyone use a 1Gig dedicated connection for I don’t know, but for a big MSM outlet $850 is pocket change compared to their other expenses. You’d think the RNC would at least provide a shared 10M ethernet connection to the bloggers though.

There is no more choice to not have internet in today’s world, any more than there was choice not to have a telephone 30 years ago. That argument is fallacious.

If you were in the tech industry, as I am, you would know that the process of starting up your own ISP is, like mentioned before, about as easy as starting up your own telephone provider 30 years ago. Without an amount of capital that would make Warren Buffett whistle, it’s nearly impossible.

I’m arguing for the government to help open the market to more competition, and you’re arguing in favor of a single entity continuing to provide a critical service to the American people…and I’m “going all socialist”?

MadisonConservative on July 31, 2008 at 5:39 PM

1. I know people that go without TV and the Internet. I think they’re out of their minds, but it’s not a necessity for survival.

2. What would you have government do to increase competition in rural areas? It’s expensive yes, but again, not a utility. It might be necessary, if you’re in IT but you could always move. Moving for a job isn’t exactly unusual.

Ed, now you know how conventions and trade shows bring millions to the local economy; they charge exorbitant rates for everything.

I exhibit at a trade show in New Orleans, at The Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. Rates start at $24.50 a sq ft 100sq ft minimum + $100 a corner for your booth space. So to rent an empty concrete floor 20′ X 20′ with 4 corners you pay $10,200. Then you are required to cover the floor. Last year we bought new carpet and gave it away after 3 days use. We saved thousands over renting it from Freeman Decorating Company. One 15amp outlet costs as much as our monthly electric bill in non air conditioned months.

The rates you quoted are not out of line. but remember a lot of hands are in the cookie jar; each expecting their cut.

So Ed, be forewarned, take along spare batteries for your laptop and your wireless internet card. Do not expect to be able to plug in unless you have been told in writing you can.

And while we’re at it, let’s make Congress conduct most of their business remotely from their home state!! This would make the job of lobbyists 50 times harder, and amplify the voices of actual constituents by 50!!! The states could enforce this by declaring the Rep’s and Senators “nonresidents” if they failed to spend at least 9 months (or whatever) of the year in their home state.

And for those who are wondering – 1 Gbps is what you would use to stream multiple real-time HDTV camera feeds. Handy if you’re a news network.

ErikTheRed on July 31, 2008 at 7:34 PM

1 Gbps is overkill, even for HDTV feeds. 100 Mbps could handle 2 simultaneous HDTV feeds using MPEG-2 compression (35M/channel) and have plenty of bandwidth to spare, and 6 using MPEG-4 (around 12M/channel).

I suppose if they wanted to stream multiple uncompressed HDTV streams they might want 1Gbps, though I’m not sure why they would- for broadcast TV they’ll have their own satellite equipment.